Escondido Officials Say They Are Not Throwing Money into BallPark

Escondido City officials say the $118,285 for consultant services on the now-delayed construction of a minor league ballpark are not new expenditures. Instead, $68,285 of which will pay outstanding balances for work that has already been completed. The remaining $50,000 is for consultant Keyser Marston to help modify the City's redevelopment plan.

"Some of the costs incurred are wind-up costs from work we were already directed to do," City Manager Clay Phillips told the members of the council. "These costs were already incurred."

"I don't want to spend anymore money on the ballpark when there really isn't one planned because of the [redevelopment] issue," said councilmember Marie Waldron during a hearing on Wednesday.

In response, the City will pay Keyser Marston to assist in modifying the redevelopment plan so the City can possibly use the land as a business park, not a minor league ballpark.

However, some councilmembers would like to explore more options for the area.

"I feel like we are being pigeonholed into this business park, which could be a great idea, but there should be other [ideas]," said councilmember Olga Diaz.

Comments

Reading between the lines and quotes in this story, it appears as if this "conservative" city council would be willing to spend money on a ballpark if the old rules on redevelopment agencies were still in place. Some conservatives!

If Escondido would like to get some solid middle-class jobs, an office/commercial/industrial park might be the ticket. A ballpark, despite the desperate hype, will not produce anything like that. But the ethic in that city still seems to be "build a __, and they will come." Didn't work that way with the arts center, won't work that way with a ballpark, or any other trapping of being big-time and prosperous.